Lately, I’ve become addicted to the kind of television subgenre known as the “procedural”–which is basically a show like “NCIS,” “Criminal Minds,” and “Fringe,” that yes, has ongoing story arcs, but mainly turn on an episode by episode, crime-solving scenario. One of those shows is CBS’s “Numb3rs,” which stars the wonderful Rob Morrow as Don Eppes, an FBI director, whose brother Charlie, is a math genius that helps him solve the crime of the week.
I’ve mentioned the show once before in a post on Idol Chatter because of the interesting character arc of Larry, the genius physicist and Charlie’s former mentor. Larry is not only one of the funniest characters on the show, but he is unabashedly the soul-searching scientist, who finds his way into faith, and out of spiritual crises, through his passionate pursuit of hard science and queries about the biggest questions humans ask.

But lately the show has taken an interesting twist with Don’s character–Don is under constant pressure with his high-powered, high-stakes job which more than occasionally requires him to take the life of another–and this season they’ve written some soul-searching into Don’s life. He’s from a Jewish family, and the last few episodes has Don visiting a rabbi, talking to his Dad about their family’s faith background, but most of all, last episode, “Arrow of Time,” (which you can watch in full online) not only begins with Don at synagogue, reading the Torah in Hebrew and listening to a rabbi, but ends with a showdown in this very same synagogue, with Don saving the life of the criminal they are chasing–a nineteen year old boy–that he is determined not to kill. It was quite powerful.
I’m heartened to see a show having a main character exploring Judaism for once! That doesn’t often happen, and I’m curious to see where the writers take Don next. Check it out.